Packages of Folgers coffee are displayed on a shelf at a grocery store on June 5, 2014 in San Rafael, California. / Justin Sullivan, Getty Images

by USA TODAY

by USA TODAY

Turns out nearly half the world prefers the stuff, at least as far as retail sales go, the Washington Postreports.

Australians and New Zealanders, for instance, are crazy for it: More than 75% of retail brewed coffee sipped there is instant.

In Eastern Europe, it's more than 50%, according to Euromonitor data. And sales are booming in India, Russia, and especially in China, where legions of newbie coffee drinkers are using the instant version as an entry point. In China, convenience is paramount when 70% of workers say they feel overworked, notesSmithsonian.

Like China, the U.K. has traditionally been a tea-drinking nation, but it, too, is seeing large numbers of people switch to coffee, with instant being a popular choice.

Just 10% of retail brewed coffee in North America is instant; sales have been fairly stagnant for years and actually fell in 2013. In contrast, the market worldwide has been expanding at a rate of 7% to 10% a year. (Maybe Americans are too busy putting butter in their coffee.)